Yoga and Cancer: Prevention, maintenance, remission, cure

Is there a cure for cancer?
The jury, so to speak, is out on this one, and has been for some time.
In the meanwhile, using the framework of yoga, my own personal experience and the knowledge that surrounds us and has been part of human tradition since the beginning of time, here are a few thoughts.
As someone wise said, the best way to cure cancer, is to never get it.Prevention, the old English saying goes, is better than cure.
However, this is about those who have unfortunately got cancer, or who have thankfully got remission from it.
Yoga can help people with cancer.
Yoga is a philosophy, it is a process and it is also a set of actions, all at the same time.
Let us look at the actions first. And maybe leave the other two out for another time.
The practice of yoga is commonly interpreted as the practice of Asanas (postures) and Pranayama (breathing techniques). There is also the practice of Dhyana (meditation). The more engrossed yogi will also practice Kriyas, or cleansing techniques. Yoga of course involves a change of habits, from a diverse and scattered life, to one of concentration and focus, economy and cultivation, of conservation of energy rather than the waste of it.
For someone detected with cancer, and whatever stage it is in, yoga can help.
Swami Vishnudevananda, who spread the Sivananda Yoga programme worldwide in the 1950s named after his master Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, said famously – “Health is wealth. Peace of mind is happiness. Yoga shows the way.”
How can “yoga show the way” to better health for people with cancer?
Yoga practices are meant to bring a human being into equilibrium, and then boost the state of physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Let us look at a few of them, just as a curtain raiser. The vast universe of yoga cannot be expounded here, but a glimpse is indicated for those who are really interested.
RELAXATION
Savasana or relaxation (usually guided relaxation) is a divine practice of recharging the human being. It is an excellent tonic to reduce physical and mental stress that comes with the diagnosis, prognosis, visits to the doctors, treatments invasive and otherwise, the struggles, the anxieties and worries of family and friends that sit not only on the already weakened shoulders of a patient but also in his or her heart.
Deep relaxation reduces pain, induces a calmer state of mind, and provides essential rest.
It requires no special training, or equipment. Just lie on the back, be guided through 10 or fifteen minutes of complete stillness. That is all. The wonderful, much needed benefits will accrue!
SURYA NAMASKAR
The practice of Surya Namaskar, a series of gentle movements synchronized with the breath, provides the body wonderful, all round exercise. For those who are able to manage it during the treatment, and after, Surya Namaskar is a complete workout for the heart, the brain, the lungs and the entire body system. The most beneficial part of Surya Namaskar is its impact on circulation, helping detoxify the blood and in purifying it.
ASANAS
Asanas, or steady postures, are amazing in their presentation and magical in their results.
For example, Sarvangasana, the Shoulderstand, is a pose where the body is inverted to gravity. From lymphatic edema in the legs, to the resting of the heart, and directing an extra flow of oxygen and blood to the brain, the practitioner has to just come into the pose, and stay there for a little while. Gravity will do it all. As the name suggests, Sarvangasana is for all parts of the body, and especially indicated for stimulating the thyroid gland in particular and all endocrine glands in general. It regulates the hormonal system, and brings about balance, so essential for a person with cancer.
There are thousands of Asanas, postures. Each of them, like Sarvangasana described above, come with profound benefits. Let us say that even 12 to 15 main postures can be practiced. That is enough. They will provide a complete rejuvenation of the skeletal, muscular, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, excretory, reproductive, nervous, and digestive and circulatory systems. Obviously, this is exactly what the yoga teacher would order for a person with cancer!
PRANAYAMA AND KRIYA
What about the practice of Kriyas and Pranayama?
Kapalabhati is a breathing practice where the practitioner expels the air from the lungs with a mild force repeatedly 60 to 80 times in one round. The name in Sanskrit indicates a shining face, or in other words, good health, for the practitioner. Kapalabhati is a Kriya (a cleansing technique), as well as a breathing practice at the same time. It cleanses the lungs, invigorates the breathing apparatus, cleans the sinuses and strengthens the lungs. The practice stimulates certain endocrine glands, especially the Thymus, which is a gland that helps build immunity. Kapalabhati also stimulates the digestive system, especially the liver, the pancreas and the stomach. Finally, this technique has an ability to calm the mind, by stimulating the production of dopamine and serotonin in the brain. As can be inferred, for someone with cancer, three rounds of Kapalabhati, each of 60, 70, 80 pumpings each, can have a profound positive impact on health.
There are six cleansing techniques, each with a deep and profound science behind it, help to reboot the human system. Regular practice of Kriyas under supervision will help a cancer patient develop the body’s natural ability to fight disease once more, by making it clean and toxin free.
Similarly, Pranayama (the control and regulation of Prana, or vital energy, through various methods, primary of them being specially designed breathing practices), is meant to raise the vibratory level of the practitioner. Breathing techniques infuse a tremendous amount of life force into the body and mind. Starting with Naadi Shodhana (cleaning of the astral channels through which energy flows) to the energy seals (Bandhas), Pranayama is the Ph.D. of yoga. It is a systematic and highly efficient ladder (you can even call it a super speed elevator!) to top up the energy tank and thereby counter any disease, including cancer. There are many different kinds of Pranayama, and there are many different levels, and all of them have specific and long lasting benefits.
Pranayama reduces pain, induces deep sleep, elevates the mood, clears up the skin, improves the digestive power (called metabolism), reduces catabolism and increases anabolism, strengthens the nervous system, stimulates the functioning of autonomic system, improves the working of lungs, heart, diaphragm, abdomen, intestines, kidneys and pancreas, all body organs get more oxygen, toxins are removed from body, and therefore the onset of various diseases is prevented. And the best part – it requires very little effort or space or time or will power to practice.
MEDITATION
Meditation or Dhyana is a practice as well as a state. In a simple way, meditation is a state of calmness and peace that is beyond description, and something that everyone craves for. It is a practice that helps in all situations, especially when there is a lot of pain, suffering, anxiety and stress. Meditation is the culmination of various yoga practices, and helps to bind everything together. It internalizes and harnesses the power of yoga, and gives the practitioner a tremendous amount of energy, vitality, and equanimity.
No special background or qualification is necessary for meditation. Anyone can practice the art of sitting silently and still for a while. In time, the meditator will become adept, and established in meditation.
FAITH, RIGHT COMPANY AND ENVIRONMENT
Yoga also suggests and offers the very exact and high science of faith, devotion, prayer and good company. In a package called Kirtan, Mantra chanting, and Satsang, almost every human condition is addressed. People with cancer will find great relief and assurance on this path, commonly called Bhakti yoga.
FOOD
One very important aspect of yoga is proper diet. The guidelines are detailed, scientific, quite straightforward and highly beneficial for every practitioner, especially those with cancer. Yoga suggests a vegetarian diet, and even within this, a saatvik (or pure and peaceful) selection. Fresh vegetables, fruits, unprocessed cereals, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and cow’s milk and ghee, herbs and mild spices, and organic honey are included. On the unwelcome wish list is meat and fish and eggs, stale and processed and packaged food, oil of every kind, cheese, sugar, alcohol and tobacco. Even overeating is considered extremely unwelcome, as are overcooked and long-stored food items. Abstinence, as well as fasting are part of therapy and rejuvenation, applicable as much for someone of normal health and even more so for a person who has cancer.
There are a few other Yogic viewpoints as well.
TEACHER
It is essential to find a good teacher, and a proper lineage. Yoga is not a treatment programme or a science of healing. It is a spiritual tradition of living the best possible life and fulfilling human potential and destiny. A side benefit is radiant health and well-being. Yoga is a gift from the Gurukula tradition, of teacher and student living together, learning together and achieving together. Yoga is a realised science, it is a revealed science. Yoga came to human beings in deep meditation, as a panacea and method of having a divine life on earth. It is a shining beacon for ending human suffering, and having everlasting peace and happiness.
It is sacred while being practical at the very same moment.
For this, a mentor or a guide, and all guiding principles are necessary.
Yoga also should be practiced at the right time, in a proper environment, and with the right kind of knowledge, understanding, precautions and process.
STUDENT
The most important part of any healing, any cultivation is trust, faith, belief and commitment. As doctors say, patient cooperation is essential to help the treatment. A practitioner has to be fully accepting of yoga, and its various tenets, for its complete benefits to be available. In all of this, the student of yoga is the most important.
There are contraindications for all practices, and especially so when a person is going through cancer and the current course of treatments as suggested by modern medicine. It is best that the person works with a highly trained yoga teacher for specific modifications to a general yoga programme.
While the jury is still out while this article was compiled, written and completed, one thing is for sure – yoga is always good, whatever state of life you are in at the moment. Yoga gives hope, resilience, energy, a positive view, mental and physical strength and stamina, and ultimately the dignity and freedom we all seek, both in life, in health, in disease, and in death.
Yoga moves the practitioner from sadness and despair to hope and joy, from fear and restlessness to courage and fortitude, from pain and suffering to acceptance and freedom, from darkness to light.
So,
Let us all practice yoga.
Let us start today.
Let us start now.
Om tat sat.
remission, cure
-By Arun Pandala, Acharya and Director, Sivananda Yoga Centre
Disclaimer: This article is exclusively produced for The Times of India Healthy India, Fit India by our partner, Indian Cancer Society.